The Blog

Lessons learned.

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.Tallulah Bankhead

Writing a blog is an interesting thing. I get to say (a lot of) stuff. Occasionally, people read the stuff. And then, sometimes, I get to get it spectacularly wrong.

My most recent blog post was a case in point. I had it all teed up. I was ahead enough in the writing to have it ready to go for a few weeks ahead of schedule. Except of course for the part where I put in the wrong posting date for one of the posts!

So, if you saw the post on Facebook or Twitter, or if you get the newsletter, you would have been surprised and a more than a little puzzled to see a picture of a smiling woman on a hill with a totally cloudless sky in the background above a post about fog. (I know, you probably thought is was some weighty metaphor..)

So, what have I learned? For starters, no-one died and the interwebs did not explode! Good to know!

Seriously, I did learn some good lessons.

The first lesson is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. The content of the blog still works even in the presence of a confusing picture. I can let the idea of perfection go and hang on to talking about things that I believe are worthy of discussion.Where in your life would it help to let go of perfection? Click To Tweet
The second lesson is that simple works. To get the blog to all the places I want it to go, the process has become rather complex. I am spending time considering whether the complexity is worth the effort – and the errors.What might you choose to simplify? Click To Tweet
The third lesson is that an error is what I allow it to be. When I saw the mail-out, my initial reaction was one of shock. And then I though: “How weird! Well, it’s out there! Nothing I can do about it now!”

There was a time not very long ago where I would have experienced deep shame about an error just like this. How refreshing to notice that I have grown away from that reaction. And empowering to notice that I have a choice about my reaction.How might you react differently to challenges in your life? Click To Tweet
This was the fourth lesson: The people who read the blog are in it to read something meaningful which helps them grow, and are there to support me, give me feedback and help me grow. This, for me, is the real lesson. That even when I make mistakes, there are people who love me, not despite the mistakes I make, but because I am real, flawed and me – no matter how funny and confusing that may sometimes be!The people who love us, do so because we are flawed and human, not despite it. Click To Tweet
So, thank you for reading the blog. Thank you for looking at the picture, furrowing your brow and still reading the content. Thank you for being in it with me.

2 Comments on “Lessons learned.”

” I will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection.”
Your blogs are wonderful Cecile ,precisely because you are real( full of grace and imperfect), and how wonderful you can see and experience your own growth through them!